Invensys closes door on Baan

The enterprise applications software market is facing further shakeup with the news that Baan is to be sold for the second time in three years. Parent company Invensys, which last week reported losses of over $2 billion, is to sell it to an investment group. The sale comes hot on the heels of the announcement of J D Edwards’ acquisition by PeopleSoft.

The enterprise applications software market is facing further shakeup with the news that Baan is to be sold for the second time in three years. Parent company Invensys, which last week reported losses of over $2 billion, is to sell it to an investment group. The sale comes hot on the heels of the announcement of J D Edwards’ acquisition by PeopleSoft.

Baan, which was bought by Invensys in 2000, announced today it will be purchased by an investment group consisting of Cerberus Capital Management and Atlantic Partners, both major private investment firms. The statement said the group has nearly $14 billion of investment capital which will help fund a “growth oriented, long-term strategy to the Baan business”.

Over the next few months, Baan will be merged with another of the group’s holdings, SSA Global Technologies, which is a manufacturing solutions provider. The merged companies will have nearly $600 million in merged revenue, and over 16,500 customers.

Baan has suffered in recent years, with Invensys taking a charge of nearly $1 billion on its acquisition. The company had said it was trying to sell the business, causing speculation as to its long-term future. However, Baan executives insist it is stable, pointing out it has acquired a number of new customers in the last quarter.

“The strength of Baan’s solutions, loyal customer base, and dedicated employees has provided a foundation for an accelerated investment decision by Cerberus and General Atlantic,” said Laurens van der Tang, president of Baan. “We have established a customer-driven company that is well positioned for growth as we begin the second 25 years of Baan.”